Hopeless and Losing Hope

“And once again in my new world full of heartaches and lies, this hopeless boy somehow finds a way to make me smile.”

Author: Colleen Hoover

Rating: 4.75/5

Started on: March 22, 2016

Finished on: April 07, 2016

Edition: Kindle edition

Genre: Romance, New Adult, Young Adult, Contemporary, Sociology, Fiction, Chick Lit, Drama, High School

Synopsis: (by book)

Hopeless

Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies…

That’s what seventeen-year-old Sky realizes after she meets Dean Holder. A guy with a reputation that rivals her own and an uncanny ability to invoke feelings in her she’s never had before. He terrifies her and captivates her all in the span of just one encounter, and something about the way he makes her feel sparks buried memories from a past that she wishes could just stay buried.

Sky struggles to keep him at a distance knowing he’s nothing but trouble, but Holder insists on learning everything about her. After finally caving to his unwavering pursuit, Sky soon finds that Holder isn’t at all who he’s been claiming to be. When the secrets he’s been keeping are finally revealed, every single facet of Sky’s life will change forever.

Losing Hope

In the follow-up to Colleen Hoover’s #1 New York Times bestseller Hopeless, the charming and irresistible Dean Holder tells the passionate story that has melted thousands of hearts.

In Hopeless, Sky left no secret unearthed, no feeling unshared, and no memory forgotten, but Holder’s past remained a mystery.

Still haunted by the little girl he let walk away, Holder has spent his entire life searching for her in an attempt to finally rid himself of the crushing guilt he has felt for years. But he could not have anticipated that the moment they reconnect, even greater remorse would overwhelm him…

Sometimes in life, if we wish to move forward, we must first dig deep into our past and make amends. In Losing Hope, bestselling author Colleen Hoover reveals what was going on inside Holder’s head during all those hopeless moments—and whether he can gain the peace he desperately needs.

Honestly speaking, I am not fond of books with faces on their covers. It creeps me up and it always gives me an impression that it won’t be worth the read. But maaaan was I wrong about this duology.  Since I’ve finished the gorgeously written novel, November 9 by Colleen Hoover, I’ve been eager to read all of her novellas, even though some, like these two, doesn’t have appealing covers, in my opinion. Anyway, it’s the mindblowing, heart-wrecking plot twist that gets everyone in their knees, right?

Well, let’s not linger around my thoughts about these books any longer.  Let the book reviewing commence!

 

 

“I want you to remember who you are, despite the bad things that are happening to you. Because those bad things aren’t you. They are just things that happen to you.  You need to accept that who you are, and the things that happened to you are not one and the same.”

Sky Davis is a 17-year-old girl who grew up with her best friend, Six, and her loving foster mother, Karen.  She and Six had been living a life every teenage girl has – sleepovers, rebelling against their parents, and making out with different guys almost every night. The only not-so-typical thing about Sky’s life is… well everything. She never experienced any form of social media, or even a television for that matter, she was home-schooled ever since, and she never felt anything when she’s around guys, no matter how hot or good looking they are. Until Holder shows up.

 

Dean Holder hasn’t been around for the past year for who-knows-what-reason. When he finally decided to go back due to an unwanted occurrence,  he coincidentally bumped into Sky in a grocery store, where he was 101% sure that the girl he’s staring at is his long lost childhood sweetheart, Hope. Unfortunately, this was another “hallucination” of Holder so he decided to run, and afterwards saw Sky standing in front of his house. They met a lot of times after that and, needless to say, they both developed feelings for each other.

 

Unfortunately, their “live” feeling was mildly ruined by sudden realizations and confessions from both parties. Sky started questioning her entire life and Holder’s feeling for her. On the other hand, Holder was so confused with what to do with his hopeless life and whether to keep his memories with Les, his twin, or permanently let all of it go.

 

Will the both of them truly meet their happily ever after or is it just an illusion that can never become a reality?

 

[P.S.: 

Since Losing Hope is just Holder telling his side (and his own plot twist in life), I’ve just (sort of) combined the summaries of both novels. ]

I gave Hopeless 5 stars, while Losing Hope gained 4.5 stars. I really don’t have a clear reason why I didn’t give Losing Hope the same stars as Hopeless. It just so happened that I already knew almost 75% of the story so some parts were a little dull for me. Nevertheless, these novellas deserve all the love and recognition in the world! I’m praying that people who related to Hope’s case can face it the way she did. And I pray there will be less similar cases that will occur in the future.